Invoice C-14 (New window) was presented Thursday by Secretary of State for Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Dominic LeBlanc.

If adopted, this text will ensure that Quebec can retain its 78 federal ridings.

However, its relative weight in the Canadian federation may decrease as the law still allows new equestrian centers to be admitted in the other Canadian provinces.

The filing of C-14 was announced in a press release on Thursday. However, the latter does not specifically mention Quebec – and neither does the bill, by the way.

A redistribution every 10 years

In Canada, the number of seats is recalculated every 10 years after a census. But Bill C-14 guarantees that no province will lose a seat for the period of this ten-year censusthe office of Secretary LeBlanc assured on Thursday.

The last census was conducted last year. Thus, the project would preserve Quebec’s 78 federal rides until at least 2031.

Canada’s chief electoral officer, Stéphane Perrault, announced last October that the number of seats in the House of Commons would increase from 338 to 342 in 2024 to reflect evolving Canadian demographics.

The changes should affect Alberta (+3), Ontario (+1), British Columbia (+1) and Quebec (-1), the only Canadian province to lose a race.

This announcement had reacted strongly to the Legault government and the Bloc Québécois. A bloc motion aimed at preserving Quebec’s political clout in Ottawa was passed three weeks ago by a large majority of federal lawmakers, including Prime Minister Trudeau and Secretary LeBlanc.

In addition, the “support and confidence deal” struck this week by the Liberals and the New Democrats stipulated that both parties would commit to it the number of seats for Quebec in the lower house remains constantsuggesting that Bill C-14 might pass.

If that were the case, the proposed addition of seats in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia would go ahead as planned without Quebec losing a race, as provided for in the bill’s transitional provisions. The number of federal deputies would thus increase from 338 to 343.

The new constituencies will be announced in September 2023explains the office of Secretary LeBlanc in its press release and the changes will be applied at the first general election convened at least seven months after their publication.

In order to, these changes are expected to come into effect in April 2024 at the earliest.

The last such operation, carried out under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, dates back to the previous decade. In the 2015 general election, the number of seats in the lower house increased from 308 to 338. Ontario (+15), British Columbia (+6), Alberta (+6) and Quebec (+3) had all won by substitution.

The bloc would have preferred a minimum percentage threshold

In a scrum on Thursday, Bloc Québécois parliamentary leader Alain Therrien argued that a bill already tabled by his party would be a better approach since it would keep Quebec representation at a minimum 25% threshold.

The only way for Quebec to protect its political clout is to calculate it based on a percentagehe insisted.

But in the eyes of the Liberals, such a proposal would require the launch of a round of constitutional negotiations, as they believe it would require the approval of seven provinces representing at least 50% of Canada’s population.

The Bloc Québécois only wants to open the constitution and engage in bickeringlaunched Justin Trudeau’s Quebec lieutenant, Pablo Rodriguez, Thursday during Question Time in the House of Commons.

When asked about the matter, Mr Therrien said he disagreed with such an interpretation.